Adaptive conversation support bot

ABSTRACT

Systems and techniques for adaptive conversation support bot are described herein. An audio stream may be obtained including a conversation of a first user. An event may be identified in the conversation using the audio stream. A first keyword phrase may be extracted from the audio stream in response to identification of the event. The audio stream may be searched for a second keyword phrase based on the first keyword phrase. An action may be performed based on the first keyword phrase and the second keyword phrase. Results of the action may be out via a context appropriate output channel. The context appropriate output channel may be determined based on a context of the conversation and a privacy setting of the first user.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments described herein generally relate to voice-enabledassistants and, in some embodiments, more specifically to an adaptiveconversation support bot.

BACKGROUND

A virtual assistant application may operate on an internet connectedmobile device. The virtual assistant application may receive voicecommands from a user. The virtual assistant may complete actions inresponse to the voice commands.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. Like numerals havingdifferent letter suffixes may represent different instances of similarcomponents. The drawings illustrate generally, by way of example, butnot by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed in the presentdocument.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of an environment in which anadaptive conversation support bot may be implemented, according to anembodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a system for implementing an adaptiveconversation support bot, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a method for implementing an adaptiveconversation support bot, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a machine uponwhich one or more embodiments may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The successful deployment of virtual assistants running in connecteddevices have enabled new types of interactions between individuals andonline services by introducing voice enabled features that may allow auser to request information in a conversational manner. Althoughtraditional virtual assistants continue to be integrated into oureveryday lives, they may lack the ability to adapt to a context of anenvironment in which a user is conversing. In addition, traditionalvirtual assistants may lack the ability to directly interject during anactive conversation without having to be specifically prompted to do so.Furthermore, traditional virtual assistants may lack privacy controlsfor controlling how information is securely presented back to the user.

The present subject matter provides a personal assistant that may listenin real-time to an active conversation in order to be able to interjectas needed without a specific prompt command allowing more timely andrelevant information to the user. The described techniques, for example,enable the virtual assistant to adjust a response based on changesdetected in the context of the environment in which the conversationoccurs. By listening to and analyzing the context properties of theenvironment of the conversation, the virtual assistant may output aresponse that best matches the environmental context of theconversation. Thus, the virtual assistant may effectively adapt aresponse based on context changes in real-time.

In an example, the present subject matter may be implemented as asoftware platform that may include a front-end virtual assistant mobileapplication interfaced with back-end systems. The virtual assistantmobile application may listen in real-time to an active conversationincluding the user and may interject on-demand and automatically basedon events detected in the conversation. The present subject matter maydirect the output to an output channel (e.g., audio, text, email, etc.)based on a level of privacy indicated by the environmental context ofthe conversation and privacy settings configured by the user. Forexample, John may utter aloud to himself “what time is my doctorappointment tomorrow?” and, the virtual assistant application, havingdetermined that there are other people in the environment, may send Johna text with the details of the doctor appointment scheduled fortomorrow.

The present subject matter may allow a virtual assistant to listen to alive conversation and deconstruct and analyze the live conversation topreemptively identify key words giving specific information about thecontext of the conversation. By deconstructing and analyzing the liveconversation, the virtual assistant may be able to leveragecomputational resources to identify elements of relevant additionalinformation to the on-going conversation. The elements of additionalinformation may be output into the conversation based on a set ofapplicable privacy rules that govern the interactions between thevirtual assistant and the user. Thus, the virtual assistant may reactsimilar to a person by interjecting in a conversation between multipleindividuals. The virtual assistant may leverage a variety of pre-setcommunication methods such as, by way of example and not limitation,voice, text messages, pictures, emails, etc. and may transmit the outputto one, a subset, or all participants in the active conversation.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of an environment 100 in whichan adaptive conversation support bot may be implemented, according to anembodiment. The environment 100 may include a first active conversation105 including speech of a first user 110 captured by a first connecteddevice 115A including a first personal assistant application 120A and asecond active conversation 185 including speech of the first user 110and a second user 190 captured by the first connected device 115Aincluding the first personal assistant application 120A and a secondconnected device 115B including a second personal assistant application120B.

The first active conversation 105 and the second active conversation 185may both include the first user 110 and may be occurring concurrently orat different times. For example, the first user 110 may be conversingwith the second user 190 over a teleconference (e.g., the second activeconversation 185, etc.) and may be conversing directly with the firstpersonal assistant application 120A (e.g., the first active conversation105, etc.) during breaks in the conversation with the second user 190.In another example, the first user 110 may have completed the firstactive conversation 105 and may subsequently begin the second activeconversation 185 upon beginning a teleconference with the second user190.

The first connected device 115A and the second connected device 115Bcollectively referred to as the connected devices 115A and 115B. Thefirst active conversation 105 may be captured by the first connecteddevice 115A and the second active conversation 185 may be captured byone or both of the connected devices 115A and 115B. The first personalassistant application 120A and the second personal assistant application120B collectively referred to as the personal assistant applications120A and 120B. The connected devices 115A and 115B may becommunicatively coupled via network 125 (e.g., the internet, cellularnetwork, etc.) to a system 130. The system 130 may include a variety ofcomponents for identifying, analyzing, and sharing relevant conversationinformation and may include a portal 135, back-end systems 140,database(s) 145, an account management controller 150, an environmentalproperties detector 155, a conversation bot 160, a data processor 165, athird-party data API 170, a conversation element extractor 175, and datalake(s) 180.

The conversation 105 may include the first user 110 conversing withanother person or making an utterance out loud. For example, the usermay say “My flight to San Francisco is at <pause> I forget.” The firstuser 110 may be registered with the first personal assistant application120A included with the first connected device 115A (e.g., a mobiledevice, smartphone, tablet, personal computer, game system, wearabledevice, personal assistant device, etc.). The connected device mayinclude a microphone that captures audio from the environment 100including the conversation 105.

The first personal assistant application 120A and may be a softwareapplication executing on the first connected device 115A that is able toreceive an audio stream from the first connected device 115A inreal-time. The first personal assistant application 120A may provide auser interface for registering the first user 110 with the system 130and may provide for the establishment of a secure communication channelbetween the first connected device 115A and the portal 135. The firstpersonal assistant application 120A may provide a user interface forsecure login for selecting a current user (e.g., first user 110) of thepersonal assistant application 130. The personal assistant application110 may provide a user interface for configuring user settings such as,for example, privacy settings, preferred output channels (e.g., voice,text, email, pictures, etc.).

The portal 135 may be a gateway (e.g., proxy, etc.) to applicationsand/or data containing information relevant to the first activeconversation 105. The portal 135 may provide registered users (e.g.,first user 110, user 190, etc.) with the ability to manage user accountsettings. The settings may be configured via a user interface providedby the portal 135 and via a user interface of the personal assistantapplications 120A and 120B and may include personal rules for deliveringoutput of the conversation bot 160. The portal 135 may providenotifications and reports to providing an input mechanism for userinputs and authorization. The user interface may be presented in anumber of mediums including, by way of example, and not limitation,audio, graphical, text-based, etc. The portal 135 may obtain an audiostream including the first active conversation 105 of the first user110. For example, an audio stream including the user saying “My flightto San Francisco is at <pause> I forget” may be received.

The portal 135 may work in conjunction with the conversation bot 160 toprocess the received audio stream. The conversation bot 160 may identifyan event in the first active conversation 105. For example, theconversation bot 160 may identify the pause in the audio stream as anevent. The conversation bot 160 may work in conjunction with theconversation element extractor 175 to extract a first keyword phrasefrom the audio stream. For example, the conversation element extractor175 may extract “I forget” from the audio stream as the first keywordphrase. The conversation element extractor 175 may use the first keywordphrase to search for a second keyword phrase. For example, theconversation element extractor may search prior to the utterance of “Iforget” to identify “flight” and “San Francisco” from the audio streamas the second keyword phrase.

The conversation bot 160 may perform an action (e.g., initiate a search,provide user feedback, set an alarm, submit the second keyword phrase asinput to the back-end systems 140 and/or the third-party data API, etc.)based on the second keyword phrase. For example, the conversation botmay initiate a search for information. The conversation bot 160 may passthe second keyword phrase to the data processor 165. The data processor165 may identify information relevant to the user using the secondkeyword phrase. The data processor 165 may be communicatively connected(e.g., via wired network, wireless network, etc.) to a variety of datasources such as, for example, the back-end systems 140, the third-partydata API 170, the database(s) 145, and the data lake(s) 180. Theback-end systems 140 may include a variety of application systems thatmay contain information associated with the first user 110 such as, forexample, an enterprise data warehouse. The third-party data API 170 mayprovide access to external (e.g., third-party, etc.) systems that maycontain information associated with the first user 110. The database(s)145 may contain a data catalog, a metadata catalog, data access rules,and a record of changes made to data. The data lake(s) 180 may includean infrastructure of analytical datasets that may contain collections ofdomain specific conversation topics such as, for example, finance,politics, sports, travel, business, government, transportation, etc.

The data processor 165 may access the data sources using the secondkeyword phrase to identify information and/or actions that are relevantto the second keyword and the user. For example, the data processor 165may access a calendaring application included in the back-end systems140 to identify a day and time for a flight on a calendar of the firstuser 110. In another example, the data processor 165 may access thethird-party data API 170 and may search for a time and day of a flightin an airline ticketing database using credentials of the first user110.

The data processor 165 may use machine learning techniques (e.g., linearregression, cluster analysis, deep learning, etc.) to learn data sourcesto access for information and the type of information to be retrieved.The data processor 165 may store (e.g., in the data lake(s) 180, etc.)successful information retrievals (e.g., information was found, userprovided positive feedback, etc.) to use a training data for improvingdata source identification and data type identification. The data mayalso be used by the data processor 165 to establish relationshipsbetween keyword phrase input and expected output. The data processor 165may present output to the conversation bot 160 for output to the firstuser 110 via the preferred output channel. For example, the dataprocessor 165 may retrieve a flight to San Francisco for the first user110 at 1:10 PM on Thursday and the conversation bot 160 may generateoutput for delivery via voice by emitting the audio “Your flight to SanFrancisco is Thursday at 1:10 PM” from a speaker in the first connecteddevice 115A.

The first user 110 may be engaged in the second active conversation 185with the second user 190. The first user 110 and the second user 190 maybe in proximity with each other or may be conversing remotely (e.g.,using teleconference, telephone, web conference, etc.). The speech ofthe first user 110 and the second user 190 may be captured by therespective personal assistant applications 120A and 120B included withtheir respective connected devices 115A and 115B. The first user 110 mayask the second user 190 “Do you remember what was said at yesterday'smeeting?”

The portal 135 may work in conjunction with the conversation bot 160 toprocess the audio stream received from the personal assistantapplications 120A and 120B. The conversation bot 160 may identify anevent in the second active conversation 185. In an example, the eventmay be detection of the first keyword phrase in the conversationincluded in the audio stream. For example, the conversation bot 160 maywork in conjunction with the conversation element extractor 175 toidentify “remember” in the audio stream as the first keyword phrase andas an event. The conversation element extractor 175 may use the firstkeyword phrase to search for a second keyword phrase. For example, theconversation element extractor may search prior to and subsequent to theutterance of “remember” to identify “yesterday” and “meeting” from theaudio stream as the second keyword phrase.

The second keyword phrase may be presented to the data processor 165which may access the data sources to identify relevant information. Forexample, data source for the first user 110 and the second user 190 maybe accessed to identify a meeting yesterday that both the first user 100and the second user 190 attended. The data processor 165 may retrieveinformation relevant to the identified meeting such as meeting minutesstored in an email application database included in the back-end systems140. The information retrieved by the data processor 175 may bepresented to the conversation bot 160 for output to the first user 110and the second user 190 via their respective preferred output channels.For example, each connected device 115A and 115B may display the text ofthe meeting minutes or play audio of the meeting (or meeting minutes)using their respective personal assistant applications 120A and 120B.

The conversation bot 160 may work in conjunction with the accountmanagement controller 150 to determine a context appropriate outputchannel for outputting the results of a performed action. The contextappropriate output channel may be based on a context of the conversation(e.g., the first active conversation 105, the second active conversation185, etc.) and a privacy setting of the user (e.g., the first user 110,the second user 190, etc.). The privacy settings may be stored in aprofile of a user such as the first user 110.

A single user privacy option may cause the account management controller150 to direct the conversation bot 160 to output information directly tothe first user 110 using the preferred output channel. For example, thefirst user 110 may have asked if the second user 190 remembered whatsaid in yesterday's meeting and the meeting minutes may be delivereddirectly to the first user 110 and not the second user 190.

A group privacy option may cause the account management controller 150to direct the conversation bot 160 to output information to otherregistered participants (e.g., friends, connections, everyone, etc.) ofthe conversation. For example, the first user 110 may have asked if thesecond user 190 remembered what said in yesterday's meeting and themeeting minutes may be delivered directly to the first user 110 and thesecond user 190.

A location-based privacy option may cause the account managementcontroller 150 to direct the conversation bot 160 to output informationto the first user 110 and/or others based on the location of the firstuser 110. For example, the meeting minutes may be delivered via a textto a smartphone of the first user 110 rather than via voice using thespeaker of the first connected device 115A when geolocation dataprovided by the first connected device 115A to the conversation bot 160indicates the first user 110 is in a public place.

An authentication privacy option may cause the account managementcontroller 150 to direct the conversation bot 160 to output informationto the first user 110 with an authentication mechanism (e.g., biometricfingerprint authentication, etc.) preventing output of the informationuntil the first user 110 is authenticated. For example, the meetingminutes may be prepared for output and the first user 110 may bepresented with a prompt by the first personal assistant application 120Ato provide a fingerprint scan and the output may be delivered to adisplay of the first connected device 115A upon successfulauthentication of the fingerprint scan.

In an example, the first user 110 may be presented with a configurationuser interface allowing configuration of privacy settings andcorresponding preferred output channels. The account managementcontroller 150 may work in conjunction with the environmental propertiesdetector 155 to determine the context of an active conversation and mayselect the appropriate privacy setting and preferred output channelbased on the context. For example, multiple speakers including the firstuser 110 may be identified in the audio stream by the environmentalproperties detector 155 and identified as taking place at a supermarketand the account management controller 150 may direct the conversationbot 160 to output the San Francisco flight information as a text to asmartphone (e.g., the first connected device 115A, an additionalconnected device of the first user 110, etc.) of the first user 110.

The environmental property detector 155 may monitor for changes in theenvironmental context in which a conversation is occurring that mayaffect the conditions for replying to the first user 110. Theconversation bot 160 may use noise cancellation and filtering techniquesfor adjusting the received audio stream. Additionally, the conversationbot 160 may work in conjunction with the environmental property detector155 to identify changes in the environment context and adjust outputbased on the identified changes. For example, the second activeconversation 185 may begin in a quiet and near noiseless area and theenvironmental properties detector 155 may determine that backgroundnoise has increased (e.g., due to music playing, traffic noise, etc.).

The conversation bot 160 may adjust the output based on theenvironmental context change determined by the environmental propertiesdetector 155. By way of example and not limitation, the conversation bot160 may increase the sound volume of the next output, decrease the soundvolume of the next output, maintain the volume level for the nextoutput, delay the output until the environmental context returns to anacceptable noise level, repeat a previous output at an increased soundvolume, whisper the next output (e.g., at a volume and frequency thathas a short travel distance), etc. based on the environmental contextchange identified by the environmental properties detector 155.

The conversation bot 160 may add a reference to the change detected inthe environmental context identified by the environmental propertiesdetector 155 when generating output for delivery to the first user 110.For example, the output may include “I detected an incoming call and Iam going to pause my reply to your last question” in response to theenvironmental properties detector 155 determining that the first user110 is receiving a call (e.g., by detecting a ringtone, as indicated byan API call, etc.). In an example, the reference may include a promptfor input to make an adjustment to the output. For example, the outputmay include “I detected a change in your environment would you like meto lower the volume of my conversation?” or “I detected anotherconversation in your environment would you like me to whisper my repliesto you?” The conversation bot 160 may access a list of actions toperform based on identified environmental context changes and/or maylearn appropriate responses using machine learning techniques (e.g.,linear regression, etc.).

The conversation bot 160 may change the preferred output channel basedon a change in the environmental context determined by the environmentalproperties detector 155. The first user 110 may have a plurality ofoutput devices (not shown) in the environment 100 which may becommunicatively coupled to the conversation bot 160. For example, thefirst user 110 may have a personal assistant device, a smart phone, atablet, and a smart television that are connected to the conversationbot 160 via the internet. The preferred output channel for the firstuser 110 may be voice via the personal assistant device, however, theenvironmental context of the personal assistant device may have changedfrom quiet to noisy because loud music is playing (e.g., as detected bythe environmental properties detector 155) and the preferred outputchannel may be changed to text via the smartphone based on the noisyenvironmental context of the personal assistant device. In an example,the output may be output to the first connected device 115A and thefirst personal assistant application 120A may transmit the output to oneor more devices connected to the first connected device 115A (e.g.,wireless speakers, etc.).

The conversation bot 160 may include an indication of the change inoutput channel by outputting of example, “Due to the high level of noisein this location, I am switching to ‘smartphone’ for continuing outconversation.” In an example, the conversation bot 160 may suspendactivity based on the identified change in the environmental context.For example, the conversation bot may output “Switching off personalassistant functions from this location until satisfactory environmentalconditions are restored.” In an example, the conversation bot may outputto a plurality of output channels (all devices, a subset of devices,etc.) in response to the change in the environmental context. Forexample, the conversation bot may output a notification stating “Sendingreplies to all connected devices until the environmental conditions havereturned to an acceptable level.”

Delivery devices may include one or more omnidirectional speakers andthe conversation bot 160 may generate output that activates the speakersin a directional pattern focusing the audio energy in the direction ofthe first user 110. The environmental properties detector 155 maydetermine a location of the first user 110 (e.g., using geolocation dataobtained from a smartphone, wearable, etc.) and a location of thespeakers (e.g., using geolocation data of the speakers), and determine avector from the preferred speakers and the location of the first user110. The conversation bot may generate output including instructions foractivating the speakers with output power concentrated along the vector.Additionally or alternatively, the output may be transmitted to multipleoutput devices at varying output power levels to concentrate outputpower along the vector. Thus, the conversation bot 160 may adjust howand where output is delivered based on changes in the environmentalcontext in which a conversation is occurring resulting in enhanceddelivery of output in environments with variable context.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a system 200 for implementing anadaptive conversation support bot, according to an embodiment. Thesystem 200 may provide features as described in FIG. 1. The system 200may include a conversation bot 205. The conversation bot may include avariety of components such as a transceiver 210, a conversation elementextractor 215, a data processor 225, an application programminginterface (API) 245, an environmental properties detector 250, anaccount management controller 255, and an output generator 260.

The transceiver 210 may manage incoming and outgoing data trafficbetween the conversation bot 205 and connected systems or devices. Thetransceiver 210 may be communicatively coupled to a network (e.g., theinternet, wired network, wireless network, cellular network, etc.). Thetransceiver 210 may obtain an audio stream including a conversation of afirst user. For example, the first user may use a device connected(e.g., the connected devices 115A and 115B as described in FIG. 1) tothe conversation bot 205 using a personal assistant application (e.g.,the personal assistant applications 120A and 120B as described in FIG.1). The personal assistant application may capture an audio stream of anactive conversation (e.g., the first active conversation 105 asdescribed in FIG. 1) of the user via a microphone included with theconnected device. The transceiver 210 may transmit the audio stream tothe conversation element extractor 215.

The conversation element extractor 215 may include a natural languageprocessor 220. The conversation element extractor 215 may use thenatural language processor 220 to identify an event in the conversationusing the audio stream. In an example, the event may be anon-transitional pause (e.g., pause in the middle of a sentence, anunexpected pause, etc.) detected in the conversation included in theaudio stream. While pauses may be expected during transitions betweensentences and other language elements, a transitional pause may be anunexpected pause, for example, in the middle of a sentence. Thenon-transitional pause may be an indication that the user is searchingfor information. For example, the natural language processor 220 maydetermine the user has said “My flight to San Francisco is at <pause> Iforget” and the non-transitional pause in the sentence may be identifiedas the event. In an example, the event may be a detection of a firstkeyword phrase in the conversation included in the audio stream. Forexample, the conversation may include the user asking another person “Doyou remember what was said at yesterday's meeting?” and “remember” maybe identified as the first keyword phrase and the event.

The conversation element extractor 215 may, in response to identifyingthe event, extract a first keyword phrase from the audio stream. Forexample, the user may have said “My flight to San Francisco is at<pause> I forget” and “I forget” may be extracted as the first keywordphrase. In another example, the user may have said “Do you remember whatwas said at yesterday's meeting?” and “remember” may be extracted as thefirst keyword phrase. The conversation element extractor 215 may searchthe audio stream for a second keyword phrase based on the first keywordphrase.

The conversation element extractor 215 may maintain a set of directionalrules corresponding with keyword phrases that indicate whether theconversation element extractor 215 should search the audio stream beforethe event, after the event, or before and after the event. In anexample, the set of directional rules may be created or modified usingmachine learning by identifying in training data the most likelylocation of the second keyword phrase given a first keyword phrase.Identifying the directionality may increase processing efficiency byreducing the portion of the audio stream to be processed using thenatural language processor 220 and searched by the conversation elementextractor 215 for the second keyword phrase.

In an example, a search direction corresponding to the first keywordphrase may be determined (e.g., by access the set of directional rules,etc.) and, in response to the search direction being determined asreverse, a portion of the audio stream occurring for a time periodbefore the event may be searched for the second keyword phrase. Forexample, the first keyword phrase “I forget” may cause the conversationelement extractor 215 to search prior to the pause to extract the secondkeyword phrase “flight San Francisco” from the audio stream.

In an example, a search direction corresponding to the first keywordphrase may be determined and, in response to the search direction beingdetermined as omnidirectional, a first portion of the audio streamoccurring for a time period before the event and a second portion of theaudio stream occurring after the event may be searched for the secondkeyword phrase. For example, the first keyword phrase “remember” maycause the conversation element extractor 215 to search before and after“remember” in the audio stream to extract the second keyword phrase“yesterday meeting.” The first keyword phrase and the second keywordphrase may be transmitted to the data processor 225.

The data processor 225 may include a comparator 230, a query engine 235,and a machine learning engine 240. The data processor 225 may perform anaction based on the first keyword phrase and the second keyword phrase.The data processor 225 may access a set of action rules corresponding tokeywords that may include instructions for performing actions inresponse to a keyword. The data processor 225 may work in conjunctionwith the comparator 230 to compare the first keyword phrase and thesecond keyword phrase to the set of action rules to determine the actionto perform. In an example, performing the action may include searching adata source using the second keyword phrase. For example, a rule for thekeyword first keyword phrase “I forgot” and the second keyword phrase“flight San Francisco” may cause the data processor 235 to work inconjunction with the query engine 235 to perform a search forinformation regarding the user's flight to San Francisco. The queryengine 235 may working in conjunction with the transceiver 210 or theAPI 245 to search external systems such as, for example, an airlineticketing system, a calendaring system, etc. In an example, performingthe action may include transmitting a command to a software application.For example, the first keyword phrase may be “I should be” and thesecond keyword phrase may be “at the dentist at 2:30 PM on Thursday” andthe data processor 225 may access a calendaring application via thetransceiver 210 or the API 245 and may create a calendar entry for adentist appointment on Thursday at 2:30 PM.

The data processor 225 may work in conjunction with the machine learningengine 240 to create and modify rules for performing actions based onthe first keyword phrase and the second keyword phrase. For example, thequery engine 235 may have queried airline X and retrieved no flightinformation and the user may have provided feedback indicating thatairline Y should have been queried. The machine learning engine 240 maylearn over time based on the feedback that the user's flight informationshould be located by querying airline Y.

The output generator 260 may generate output of performed action and maywork in conjunction with the transceiver 210 to transmit the output to auser via one or more output channels. The results of the action may beoutput via a context appropriate output channel. The context appropriateoutput channel may be determined based on a context of the conversation(e.g., as determined by the environmental properties detector 250) and aprivacy setting (e.g., as determined by the account managementcontroller 255) of the first user. The output channels may include avariety of output delivery medium including, by way of example and notlimitation, voice, text, email, picture, etc. The output channel mayinclude a device indicator allowing the output generator 260 to generateoutput targeted to specific connected device (e.g., the connecteddevices 115A and 115B as described in FIG. 1, etc.) such as, forexample, a personal assistant device, smartphone, table, smarttelevision, etc. In an example, the output may be targeted to 1) one ormore of the user's connected devices (e.g., first connected device 115Aas described in FIG. 1, etc.) including the personal assistantapplication (e.g., the first personal assistant application 120A asdescribed in FIG. 1, etc.) and/or 2) one or more other output channelsnear the user such as the outputs of other devices connect to theconversation bot 205 or the connected device.

The environmental properties detector 250 may identify the environmentalcontext in which a conversation is occurring. The context may includeother people present during the conversation, the location of theconversation, ambient noise levels, etc. The context may be used by thedata processor 225 to identify data sources to be used in performingactions and may be used by the output 260 to determine outputcharacteristics such as which output channel(s) to transmit output toand volume levels for transmitted output.

The environmental properties detector 250 may detect a change in anaudio characteristic (e.g., background noise, other people, location,etc.) of the audio stream and may work select an output modifier basedon the change in the audio characteristic. The output generator 260 mayoutput the results of the action via the context appropriate outputchannel using the output modifier. For example, an increase inbackground noise may be detected in the audio stream and theenvironmental properties detector 250 may generate a volume levelincrease adjustment and transmit the adjustment to the output generator260 resulting in an increased output volume for the results.

The environmental properties detector 250 may work in conjunction withthe output generator 260 to alter the output volume and frequency basedon the identified environmental context. For example, output may begenerated at a lower volume and higher frequency (e.g., a whisper, etc.)to minimize audio travel in response to determining that there areunrecognized people in the vicinity of the output device.

The environmental properties detector 250 may identify a second user inthe conversation included in the audio stream. For example, theenvironmental properties detector 250 may recognize a voice of anotherregistered user using voice recognition techniques or by capturing asimilar conversation from a personal assistant application included witha connected device of the second user. The environmental propertiesdetector 250 may transmit the identity of the second user to the dataprocessor 225 and the data processor 260 may search a first data sourcecorresponding to the first user and a second data source correspondingto the second user when performing the action. For example, the firstuser may ask the second user “Do you remember what was said atyesterday's meeting?” and the data processor 260 may search a calendarapplication of the first user and a calendar application of the seconduser to identify a meeting both the first user and the second userattended. The data processor 260 may then access an email application ofthe first user and an email application of the second user to identifymeeting minutes for the meeting. The data processor 260 may identify themeeting minutes using metadata of the files, text search, etc.

The environmental properties detector 250 may identify an audiocharacteristic in the audio stream and may switch the output from theoutput channel to an alternate output channel based on the audiocharacteristic. For example, the environmental properties detector 250may determine that the ambient noise is above an acceptable thresholdwhile output is being transmitted via voice to a personal assistantdevice and may work in conjunction with the output generator 260 togenerate the output as a text message for transmission to a smartphoneof the first user. In an example, the output may be switched from oneoutput channel of a connected device to another output channel of theconnected device. For example, the output may begin as audio output ofthe smartphone and may be switched to text displayed on the smartphonebased on the audio characteristic.

The environmental properties detector 250 may determine a location ofthe conversation. For example, geolocation data may be collected from aconnected device providing the audio stream and the environmentalproperties detector 250 may compare the geolocation data to geographicaldata reference to determine the location of the conversation. Theenvironmental properties detector 250 may work in conjunction with theoutput generator 260 to select an output channel based on the determinedlocation of the conversation. For example, the location of theconversation may be determined to be a public location such as asupermarket and output may be transmitted as a text message to asmartphone of the first user, rather than as audio over a speaker, toprovide privacy.

The environmental properties detector 250 may work in conjunction withthe output generator 260 to generate messages indicating that the outputcharacteristics (e.g., output channel, output volume level, etc.) havebeen changed due to changes in the environmental context. For example,output may be generated indicating “Due to the high noise level in thislocation, I am switching to “smartphone” for continuing ourconversation.”

In an example, the environmental properties detector 250 may causepersonal assistant functions to halt while the environmental contextremains in an unsatisfactory state (e.g., noise levels above athreshold, unrecognized people, etc.). Output may be generated andtransmitted indicating “Switching off persona assistant functions fromthis location until satisfactory conditions return.” The environmentalproperties detector 250 may monitor the context and may enable personalassistant functions when the context has returned to satisfactorycondition (e.g., noise below the threshold, unrecognized people nolonger detected, etc.).

The environmental properties detector 250 may work in conjunction withthe output generator 260 to generate directional audio signals fordelivering output based on the environmental context. The environmentalproperties detector 250 may identify a direction of the first user froma device receiving the audio stream. The device may include a pluralityof audio speakers and output of the results may include generating beamformed audio using the plurality of speakers by concentrating outputpower to members of the plurality of speakers in the direction of thefirst user. In an example, the directional audio may be transmitted to aplurality of connected devices based on the location of each devicedetermined by the environmental properties detector 250 with the audiosignal concentrated in a beam in the direction of the first user.

The account management controller 255 may determine privacy settings foruser accounts for the system 200. The account management controller 255may maintain a set of personalized privacy settings for the first userand may work in conjunction with the output generator 260 to generateoutput complying with the set of personalized privacy settings. Theprivacy settings may include preferred output channels for variousenvironmental context conditions. Additionally or alternatively, theprivacy settings may include rules for transmitting output based onelements (e.g., topics, etc.) of the conversation. For example, outputrelating to appointments including only the requestor (e.g., doctorappointment, etc.) may use a first privacy setting while an appointmentinvolving the requestor and a second registered user may use a secondprivacy setting.

In an example, a single user privacy setting may indicate that outputshould be delivered only to the first user when other users are presentin the environmental context. The account management controller 255 maydirect the output generator 260 to generate and transmit output to therequestor (e.g., first user, etc.) even when other registered users maybe participating in the conversation. The account management controller255 may receive an indication from the environmental properties detector250 that there is another user in the environmental context. The firstuser may have single user privacy enabled and the account managementcontroller 255 may work in conjunction with the output generator 260 toidentify the device of the first user as the output channel and mayformat the results from performing the action for delivery to theidentified device of the first user.

In an example, a group level privacy setting may indicate that output bedelivered to the requestor and other registered users participating inthe conversation (e.g., friends, connections, everyone, etc.). A usermay configure the privacy settings to authorize transmission of outputbased on relationship to the user. For example, the first user mayconfigure group level privacy for conversation elements allowing outputrelated to those elements to be delivered to friends or social networkconnections. For example, in the conversation between the first user andthe second user involving yesterday's meeting, the first user may havegroup privacy enable for output relating to meetings and may haveauthorized the second user to receive output. The account managementcontroller 255 may work in conjunction with the output generator 260 togenerate and transmit the output to a connected device of the first userand a connected device of the second user.

The account management controller 255 may receive an indication from theenvironmental properties detector 250 that there is a group of users inthe environmental context. The first user may have group level privacyconfigured to transmit output to a set of users. The account managementcontroller 255 may work in conjunction with the output generator 260 toidentify a multipath delivery channel (e.g., group text, email,simultaneous audio output, etc.) as the output channel. The multipathdelivery channel may facilitate delivery of the output to each member ofthe set of users. The output generator 260 may format the output for theidentified multipath delivery channel.

The privacy settings may include preferred methods of delivery such as,by way of example and not limitation, voice communication, textmessages, email, picture, spoke or written language, encrypted, etc. Thepreferred method of delivery may be configured based on environmentalcontext or conversation elements indicating how output should betransmitted. For example, the first user may configure outputcorresponding to doctor appointments to be transmitted as text messagesrather that via voice. The privacy settings may include an option to forauthenticating (e.g., via username/password, biometrics, etc.) the userbefore transmitting output. In an example, portions of the messagestransmitted may be encrypted using a set of rules to provide securityfor confidential information. In an example, a portion of the messagemay include a lock feature that may request the recipient toauthenticate before unlocking. In an example, the content of a messagemay be presented in a picture to increase the difficulty of interceptingtext. In an example, the audio or picture may include hidden informationthat may be used to authenticate the information received on anotherchannel. For example, the virtual may send a code to a smartphone andthe code may be entered by the user to authenticate a messagetransmitted on another channel. In another example, an audio pattern maybe transmitted to a smartphone at a frequency outside of the humanhearing range and a personal assistant device may play audio of theoutput upon receiving the audio pattern via an included microphone.

The account management controller 255 may work in conjunction with theoutput generator 260 to transmit a request for authentication to thefirst user and the results may be output upon receiving a response tothe request for authentication. For example, a biometric authenticationrequest may be transmitted to a smartphone of the first user including afingerprint scanner and, upon receiving and validating a receivedfingerprint scan from the smartphone, audio output may be transmitted toa personal assistant device in proximity to the first user (e.g., asdetermined by the environmental properties detector 250).

The conversation element extractor 215, the natural language processor220, the data processor 225, the comparator 230, the query engine 235,the machine learning engine 240, the environmental properties detector250, the account management controller 255, and the output generator 260may comprise one or more processors (e.g., hardware processor 402described in FIG. 4, etc.) that execute software instructions, such asthose used to define a software or computer program, stored in acomputer-readable storage medium such as a memory device (e.g., a mainmemory 404 and a static memory 406 as described in FIG. 4, a Flashmemory, random access memory (RAM), or any other type of volatile ornon-volatile memory that stores instructions), or a storage device(e.g., a disk drive, or an optical drive). The components may beimplemented in one or more computing devices (e.g., a single computer,multiple computers, a cloud computing platform, a virtual computingplatform, etc.). Alternatively, the conversation element extractor 215,the natural language processor 220, the data processor 225, thecomparator 230, the query engine 235, the machine learning engine 240,the environmental properties detector 250, the account managementcontroller 255, and the output generator 260 may comprise dedicatedhardware, such as one or more integrated circuits, one or moreApplication Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), one or moreApplication Specific Special Processors (ASSPs), one or more FieldProgrammable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), or any combination of the foregoingexamples of dedicated hardware, for performing the techniques describedin this disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a method 300 for implementing anadaptive conversation support bot, according to an embodiment. Themethod 300 may provide features as described in FIGS. 1 and 2. In theexample method 300, an audio stream may be obtained that includes aconversation of a first user (e.g., at operation 305). The audio streammay, for example, be obtained from a microphone of a mobile device orfrom a microphone of a connected smart device (e.g., tablet, smart TV)connected to a conversation bot.

An event may be identified in the conversation using the audio stream(e.g., at operation 310). The event may be a non-transitional pausedetected in the conversation included in the audio stream, for example.A first keyword phrase may be extracted from the audio stream inresponse to identification of the event (e.g., at operation 315). Asdiscussed above, for example, the event may be detection of the firstkeyword phrase in the conversation included in the audio stream. Theaudio stream may be searched for a second keyword phrase based on thefirst keyword phrase (e.g., at operation 320).

Searching may be done in a variety of ways. In an example, a searchdirection corresponding to the first keyword phrase may be determinedand, in response to the search direction determined as reverse, aportion of the audio stream occurring for a time period before the eventmay be searched for the second keyword phrase. In another example, asearch direction corresponding to the first keyword phrase may bedetermined and, in response to the search direction determined asomnidirectional, a portion of the audio stream occurring for a firsttime period before the event and a second time period occurring afterthe event may be searched for the second keyword phrase. An action maybe performed based on the first keyword phrase and the second keywordphrase (e.g., at operation 325). The action performed may, for example,include searching a data source using the second keyword phrase and/ortransmitting a command to a software application. The results of theaction may be output via a context appropriate output channel (e.g., atoperation 330). The context appropriate output channel may be determinedbased on a context of the conversation and a privacy setting of thefirst user, for example. Actions and outputs may take a variety offorms, some of which are discussed below.

In one example, a second user may be identified in the conversationincluded in the audio stream and the action performed may includesearching a first data source and a second data source using the secondkeyword phrase. The first data source may correspond to the first userand the second data source may correspond to the second user. In anotherexample, a request for authentication may be transmitted to the firstuser and the results may be output upon receiving a response to therequest for authentication. In yet another example, the results may beencrypted and the results may be output upon receipt of a decryptionrequest from a device on the output channel. In yet another example, adirection may be identified of the first user from a device receivingthe audio stream. The device may include a plurality of audio speakersand the device may be the output channel. Output of the results mayinclude beamforming the output in the direction of the first user usingthe plurality of speakers. Actions and outputs may include determining achange in an audio characteristic of the audio stream, and an outputmodifier may be selected based on the change in audio characteristic.Output of the results of the action via the context appropriate outputchannel may use the output modifier.

In another example, the context may include the first user and anotheruser and the privacy setting may include an option to output to a deviceof the first user. The device of the first user may be identified andthe output channel and the results may be formatted for transmission tothe identified device of the first user. In further examples, thecontext may include a group of users including the first user and theprivacy setting may include an option to output to a set of users. Amultipath delivery channel may be identified as the output channel. Themultipath delivery channel may facilitate delivery to each member of theset of users. The output may be formatted for transmission to theidentified multipath delivery channel. A location of the conversationmay be determined and the output channel may be selected based on thedetermined location of the conversation.

An audio characteristic may be identified in the audio stream and outputmay be switched from the output channel to an alternate output channelbased on the audio characteristic.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine 400 upon whichany one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies) discussed hereinmay perform. In alternative embodiments, the machine 400 may operate asa standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to othermachines. In a networked deployment, the machine 400 may operate in thecapacity of a server machine, a client machine, or both in server-clientnetwork environments. In an example, the machine 400 may act as a peermachine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) networkenvironment. The machine 400 may be a personal computer (PC), a tabletPC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobiletelephone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or anymachine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) thatspecify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only asingle machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken toinclude any collection of machines that individually or jointly executea set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more ofthe methodologies discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software asa service (SaaS), other computer cluster configurations.

Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate by, logic ora number of components, or mechanisms. Circuit sets are a collection ofcircuits implemented in tangible entities that include hardware (e.g.,simple circuits, gates, logic, etc.). Circuit set membership may beflexible over time and underlying hardware variability. Circuit setsinclude members that may, alone or in combination, perform specifiedoperations when operating. In an example, hardware of the circuit setmay be immutably designed to carry out a specific operation (e.g.,hardwired). In an example, the hardware of the circuit set may includevariably connected physical components (e.g., execution units,transistors, simple circuits, etc.) including a computer readable mediumphysically modified (e.g., magnetically, electrically, moveableplacement of invariant massed particles, etc.) to encode instructions ofthe specific operation. In connecting the physical components, theunderlying electrical properties of a hardware constituent are changed,for example, from an insulator to a conductor or vice versa. Theinstructions enable embedded hardware (e.g., the execution units or aloading mechanism) to create members of the circuit set in hardware viathe variable connections to carry out portions of the specific operationwhen in operation. Accordingly, the computer readable medium iscommunicatively coupled to the other components of the circuit setmember when the device is operating. In an example, any of the physicalcomponents may be used in more than one member of more than one circuitset. For example, under operation, execution units may be used in afirst circuit of a first circuit set at one point in time and reused bya second circuit in the first circuit set, or by a third circuit in asecond circuit set at a different time.

Machine (e.g., computer system) 400 may include a hardware processor 402(e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit(GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a mainmemory 404 and a static memory 406, some or all of which may communicatewith each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 408. The machine 400 mayfurther include a display unit 410, an alphanumeric input device 412(e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 414(e.g., a mouse). In an example, the display unit 410, input device 412and UI navigation device 414 may be a touch screen display. The machine400 may additionally include a storage device (e.g., drive unit) 416, asignal generation device 418 (e.g., a speaker), a network interfacedevice 420, and one or more sensors 421, such as a global positioningsystem (GPS) sensor, compass, accelerometer, or other sensor. Themachine 400 may include an output controller 428, such as a serial(e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired or wireless(e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connectionto communicate or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., aprinter, card reader, etc.).

The storage device 416 may include a machine readable medium 422 onwhich is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 424(e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of thetechniques or functions described herein. The instructions 424 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 404,within static memory 406, or within the hardware processor 402 duringexecution thereof by the machine 400. In an example, one or anycombination of the hardware processor 402, the main memory 404, thestatic memory 406, or the storage device 416 may constitute machinereadable media.

While the machine readable medium 422 is illustrated as a single medium,the term “machine readable medium” may include a single medium ormultiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/orassociated caches and servers) configured to store the one or moreinstructions 424.

The term “machine readable medium” may include any medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution bythe machine 400 and that cause the machine 400 to perform any one ormore of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying data structures used by or associated withsuch instructions. Non-limiting machine readable medium examples mayinclude solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media. In anexample, a massed machine readable medium comprises a machine readablemedium with a plurality of particles having invariant (e.g., rest) mass.Accordingly, massed machine-readable media are not transitorypropagating signals. Specific examples of massed machine readable mediamay include: non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices(e.g., Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), ElectricallyErasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memorydevices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removabledisks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

The instructions 424 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 426 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device 420 utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols(e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission controlprotocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transferprotocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communication networks may include alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet datanetwork (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellularnetworks), Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless datanetworks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16 family ofstandards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards,peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example, the networkinterface device 420 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g.,Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect tothe communications network 426. In an example, the network interfacedevice 420 may include a plurality of antennas to wirelessly communicateusing at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO),multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output(MISO) techniques. The term “transmission medium” shall be taken toinclude any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding orcarrying instructions for execution by the machine 400, and includesdigital or analog communications signals or other intangible medium tofacilitate communication of such software.

Additional Notes

The above detailed description includes references to the accompanyingdrawings, which form a part of the detailed description. The drawingsshow, by way of illustration, specific embodiments that may bepracticed. These embodiments are also referred to herein as “examples.”Such examples may include elements in addition to those shown ordescribed. However, the present inventors also contemplate examples inwhich only those elements shown or described are provided. Moreover, thepresent inventors also contemplate examples using any combination orpermutation of those elements shown or described (or one or more aspectsthereof), either with respect to a particular example (or one or moreaspects thereof), or with respect to other examples (or one or moreaspects thereof) shown or described herein.

All publications, patents, and patent documents referred to in thisdocument are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, asthough individually incorporated by reference. In the event ofinconsistent usages between this document and those documents soincorporated by reference, the usage in the incorporated reference(s)should be considered supplementary to that of this document; forirreconcilable inconsistencies, the usage in this document controls.

In this document, the terms “a” or “an” are used, as is common in patentdocuments, to include one or more than one, independent of any otherinstances or usages of “at least one” or “one or more.” In thisdocument, the term “or” is used to refer to a nonexclusive or, such that“A or B” includes “A but not B,” “B but not A,” and “A and B,” unlessotherwise indicated. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and“in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respectiveterms “comprising” and “wherein.” Also, in the following claims, theterms “including” and “comprising” are open-ended, that is, a system,device, article, or process that includes elements in addition to thoselisted after such a term in a claim are still deemed to fall within thescope of that claim. Moreover, in the following claims, the terms“first,” “second,” and “third,” etc. are used merely as labels, and arenot intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.

The above description is intended to be illustrative, and notrestrictive. For example, the above-described examples (or one or moreaspects thereof) may be used in combination with each other. Otherembodiments may be used, such as by one of ordinary skill in the artupon reviewing the above description. The Abstract is to allow thereader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure andis submitted with the understanding that it will not be used tointerpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Also, in theabove Detailed Description, various features may be grouped together tostreamline the disclosure. This should not be interpreted as intendingthat an unclaimed disclosed feature is essential to any claim. Rather,inventive subject matter may lie in less than all features of aparticular disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are herebyincorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing onits own as a separate embodiment. The scope of the embodiments should bedetermined with reference to the appended claims, along with the fullscope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for facilitating conversational analysisby an adaptive bot, the system comprising: at least one processor; andmemory including instructions that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations to:obtain an audio stream including a conversation of a first user with aplurality of recipients; identify a privacy setting and preferred outputchannel for the first user, wherein the privacy setting is configuredbased on identification of a common relationship of the first user witheach of the plurality of recipients and wherein the privacy settingidentifies a type of output channel; identify an event in theconversation using the audio stream; in response to identification ofthe event, extract a first keyword phrase from the audio stream;determine a search direction based on the first keyword phrase, whereinthe search direction is a time period before or after the event; searchthe audio stream in the search direction for a second keyword phrase;perform an action based on the first keyword phrase and the secondkeyword phrase; and output results of the action via a contextappropriate output channel for the plurality of recipients, the contextappropriate output channel determined based on a context of theconversation, the preferred output channel, and the type of outputchannel identified by the privacy setting of the first user.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the event is a non-transitional pausedetected in the conversation included in the audio stream.
 3. The systemof claim 1, wherein the event is detection of the first keyword phrasein the conversation included in the audio stream.
 4. The system of claim1, wherein the instructions to search the audio stream for the secondkeyword phrase based on the first keyword phrase include instructionsto: determine a search direction corresponding to the first keywordphrase; and in response to the search direction being determined asreverse, search a portion of the audio stream occurring for a timeperiod before the event for the second keyword phrase.
 5. The system ofclaim 1, wherein instructions to search the audio stream for the secondkeyword phrase based on the first keyword phrase include instructionsto: determine a search direction corresponding to the first keywordphrase; and in response to the search direction being determined asomnidirectional, search a portion of the audio stream occurring for afirst time period before the event and a second time period occurringafter the event for the second keyword phrase.
 6. The system of claim 1,wherein the instructions to perform the action include instructions touse the second keyword phrase to search a data source.
 7. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the instruction to perform the action includeinstructions to transmit a command to a software application.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1, further comprising instructions to: detect a changein an audio characteristic of the audio stream; and select an outputmodifier based on the change in the audio characteristic, wherein theinstructions to output the results of the action via the contextappropriate output channel for the plurality of recipients includeinstructions to use the output modifier.
 9. The system of claim 1,further comprising instructions to identify a second user in theconversation included in the audio stream, wherein the instructions toperform the action include instructions to use the second keyword phraseto search a first data source and a second data source, wherein thefirst data source corresponds to the first user and the second datasource corresponds to the second user.
 10. The system of claim 1,wherein the context includes the first user and another user and theprivacy setting includes an option to output to a device of the firstuser, and further comprising instructions to: identify the device of thefirst user as the preferred output channel for the first user; andformat the results for transmission to the identified device of thefirst user.
 11. The system of claim 1, further comprising instructionsto: identify a multipath delivery channel as the context appropriateoutput channel, wherein the multipath delivery channel facilitatesdelivery to each member of the plurality of recipients; and format theoutput for transmission to the identified multipath delivery channel.12. The system of claim 1, further comprising instructions to: determinea location of the conversation; and select the context appropriateoutput channel based on the determined location of the conversation. 13.The system of claim 1, further comprising instructions to transmit arequest for authentication to the first user, wherein the results areoutput upon receipt of a response to the request for authentication. 14.The system of claim 1, further comprising instructions to: identify anaudio characteristic in the audio stream; and switch output from thecontext appropriate output channel to an alternate output channel forthe plurality of recipients based on the audio characteristic.
 15. Thesystem of claim 1, further comprising instructions to identify adirection of the first user from a device in receipt of the audiostream, the device including a plurality of audio speakers, wherein thedevice is the preferred output channel, and wherein the instructions tooutput the results include instructions to use the plurality of speakersto beamform the output in the direction of the first user.
 16. Thesystem of claim 1, further comprising instructions to encrypt theresults, wherein the output of the results includes instructions toreceive a decryption request from a device of at least one recipient ofthe plurality of recipients on the context appropriate output channel.17. At least one non-transitory machine readable medium includinginstruction for facilitating conversational analysis by an adaptive botthat, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to performoperations to: obtain an audio stream including a conversation of afirst user with a plurality of recipients; identify a privacy settingand preferred output channel for the first user, wherein the privacysetting is configured based on identification of a common relationshipof the first user with each of the plurality of recipients and whereinthe privacy setting identifies a type of output channel; identify anevent in the conversation using the audio stream; in response toidentification of the event, extract a first keyword phrase from theaudio stream; determine a search direction based on the first keywordphrase, wherein the search direction is a time period before or afterthe event; search the audio stream in the search direction for a secondkeyword phrase; perform an action based on the first keyword phrase andthe second keyword phrase; and output results of the action via acontext appropriate output channel for the plurality of recipients, thecontext appropriate output channel determined based on a context of theconversation, the preferred output channel, and the type of outputchannel identified by the privacy setting of the first user.
 18. The atleast one non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 17, furthercomprising instructions to: identify a multipath delivery channel as thecontext appropriate output channel, wherein the multipath deliverychannel facilitates delivery to each member of the plurality ofrecipients; and format the output for transmission to the identifiedmultipath delivery channel.
 19. The at least one non-transitory machinereadable medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions to transmita request for authentication to the first user, wherein the results areoutput upon receipt of a response to the request for authentication. 20.The at least one non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 17,further comprising instructions to encrypt the results, wherein theoutput of the results includes instructions to receive a decryptionrequest from a device of at least one recipient of the plurality ofrecipients on the context appropriate output channel.
 21. A method forfacilitating conversational analysis by an adaptive bot, the methodcomprising: obtaining an audio stream including a conversation of afirst user with a plurality of recipients; identifying a privacy settingand preferred output channel for the first user, wherein the privacysetting is configured based on identification of a common relationshipof the first user with each of the plurality of recipients and whereinthe privacy setting identifies a type of output channel; identifying anevent in the conversation using the audio stream; in response toidentification of the event, extracting a first keyword phrase from theaudio stream; determine a search direction based on the first keywordphrase, wherein the search direction is a time period before or afterthe event; searching the audio stream in the search direction for asecond keyword phrase; performing an action based on the first keywordphrase and the second keyword phrase; and outputting results of theaction via a context appropriate output channel for the plurality ofrecipients, the context appropriate output channel determined based on acontext of the conversation, the preferred output channel, and the typeof output channel identified by the privacy setting of the first user.22. The method of claim 21, further comprising: identifying a multipathdelivery channel as the context appropriate output channel, themultipath delivery channel facilitating delivery to each member of theplurality of recipients; and formatting the output for transmission tothe identified multipath delivery channel.
 23. The method of claim 21,further comprising transmitting a request for authentication to thefirst user, wherein the results are output upon receiving a response tothe request for authentication.
 24. The method of claim 21, furthercomprising encrypting the results, wherein the output of the resultsincludes receiving a decryption request from a device of at least onerecipient of the plurality of recipients on the context appropriateoutput channel.